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May 23, 2013 - 8:30am

Debra Hanken Kurtz, Assistant Director of ITS and Head of Digital Experience Services at Duke University Libraries, has been appointed as the new director of the Texas Digital Library (TDL), a consortium of academic libraries in Texas that provides shared services in support of research and learning.

Kurtz will take over the duties of current director Mark McFarland on June 1. McFarland, who announced in November 2012 he would step down from his role, co-founded the Texas Digital Library in 2007, and has served as director or co-director of the organization since that time. McFarland will continue his duties as Director of Information Technology for the College of Natural Sciences at UT Austin.

“Through the TDL, Mark has built a consortium of libraries and librarians who are committed to advancing library services and values, and we will never be able to adequately acknowledge all his significant contributions.” said Dana Rooks, Chair of the Texas Digital Library Governing Board and Dean of Libraries at the University of Houston. “Debra Hanken Kurtz brings with her the skills and experience necessary to continue the growth of the TDL in this new phase of its existence. We look forward with great anticipation to what the future holds for TDL under her leadership.”

Before directing the digital collections at Duke University Libraries, Kurtz served as the Libraries’ Head of the Digital Projects Department and led early planning efforts for its institutional repository. Kurtz earned a B.A. in English from Arizona State University and her M.L.S. from the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The TDL, headquartered in Austin, Texas, provides a suite of shared digital library services to its member institutions, enabling members to advance digital library programs in support of research, scholarship, and learning.